Frome flattened

From the moment Rowan Dodds headed Slough Town ahead after just five minutes there was never any doubt that the Rebels were on their way into the fourth qualifying round of this season's FA Cup competition at Wexham Park on Saturday.

Perhaps the most extraordinary thing at the end of the day was that Slough did not win by an even more convincing margin, because they were simply in a different class to their Western League opponents.

However a series of near misses and the woodwork saved Frome from an even greater defeat, as for the first 60 minutes of this third qualifying round tie Terry Reardon's side outplayed their Somerset opponents, who went into the match unbeaten and top of the Western League.

Slough started the match in tremendous style showing total commitment to the task in hand, and they quickly had Frome reeling with their exciting brand of quickfire attacking football.

Within five minutes a Keith White corner had been flicked on by Dylan Evans, and Rowan Dodds was conveniently placed at the far post to head the Rebels ahead with his ninth goal of the current campaign.

And six minutes later the Rebels increased this lead, and the match as a contest was all but over. Dodds left several Frome defenders trailing with a scorching run on the left, and his pass inside found Dylan Evans whose goal bound shot was blocked by goalkeeper Gary Lewis.

However, Evans quickly pounced on the rebound, fed the ball to Keith White and his precision cross to the far post was crisply headed home by Alan Paris. Slough were now rampant and delighted the good crowd with some scintillating football, at the same time leaving Frome a totally bewildered and demoralised side.

On 30 minutes only the woodwork prevented the lively Gary Attrell, returning to the side after suspension, from heading the Rebels further ahead, and minutes later Evans saw a similar effort run just wide of the post after a super Slough move involving Paris and Dave Yerby.

The woodwork then again came to Frome's rescue when 'keeper Lewis mishandled a long kick from Frank Parsons when under pressure from Evans, and having pounced on the loose ball the Slough striker saw his effort strike the post.

Meanwhile Vaughan Powell, who again worked tirelessly throughout saw a tremendous 25 yard shot rise just over the crossbar, while in a rare attack the impressive Peter McKelvaney and Dave Allen linked well for Frome with Allen's final shot going just wide.

Frome's troubles deepened nine minutes after the interval when an underhit back pass from their skipper Mike Malpas was intercepted by Powell, who cleverly turned the ball across the goal to give Paris the simple task of knocking it home to increase Slough's control of the game.

After this third goal the Rebels slackened their grip on the match and the contest became a somewhat scrappy affair, although it took a goal-line clearance from Paul Gardiner to keep out Attrell's well placed header after another fine run and cross from Yerby.

To their credit Frome kept battling away and did create several chances in the last 20 minutes, but their poor finishing meant that Frank Parsons had his easiest afternoon's work of the season.